職場雙語:御龍術 怎樣管理難纏的老闆(2)

It's easy to blame technology, and your boss's lack of boundaries, since both play a part, for sure -- but are you unwittingly encouraging these intrusions by answering them right away? "If you respond to every message as soon as you receive it, you're indicating that you're available," says Mattson. "Don't do that."

人們很容易把原因推到科技身上，而且你上司缺乏界線感，這確實是兩個方面的原因——但你是否總是立刻回覆，進而不經意中助長了這種做法？馬特森說：“如果你收到每一條信息後便馬上回復，這其實是在暗示‘我有空。’所以，以後不要這樣做。”

Instead, wait until five or six of them have piled up in your inbox and then respond with a brief message of your own: "I see you have lots of questions about the Ostrich account. Let's meet first thing tomorrow morning (or Monday morning), when I can give you all the details, and discuss it." Then stop answering.

相反，要等到收件箱裏積攢了五六封之後，再回復一條簡短的信息：“我看到你有許多關於某某賬戶的問題。我們明天上午（或者週一上午）一早就來解決這個問題吧。我可以告訴你所有細節，然後我們可以討論一下。”之後就不要再進行任何回覆。

"When you do meet, mention that you aren't always available to reply right away," Mattson suggests. "Your boss may not even expect you to. Rather than assuming that an immediate answer is required, clarify what it is he actually wants." There's always a chance you'll be pleasantly surprised. Even if not, by declining to answer every time he pings you, you'll have politely but firmly established the boundaries your boss seems to lack.

馬特森建議：“會面的時候，可以告訴對方，你並不是總有空馬上回復他或她的信息。你的上司或許根本沒指望你會馬上回復。所以，不要認爲必須立即回覆，而是要弄清他真正想要的東西。”總有一天，你會收到驚喜。即便沒有驚喜，拒絕在他每次發信息的時候都進行回覆，你便可以堅定而又不失禮貌地確定了上司一直缺乏的界限。

Do this now, before you get any more ticked off about it, Mattson adds: "So many people suffer in silence for too long and then blow their stack. But if you have these calm, tactful conversations about relatively minor things, it builds a foundation of trust for when you have to tackle the really tough issues."

馬上就這麼做，不要再爲此而大動肝火。馬特森補充道：“許多人都在默默忍受，然後有一天突然爆發。但如果你能就這些相對次要的事情進行冷靜的、有策略的談話，便能在你與上司之間建立信任基礎，更有利於你以後解決真正棘手的問題。”

One such issue, clearly: Those costly and reputation-tarnishing errors your boss has been making. "Does he know he's making these mistakes?" Mattson wonders. "Start by giving him the benefit of the doubt and assuming he's unaware of the problem."

另外一個問題：你上司所犯的那些損失資金、損害信譽的錯誤。馬特森問道：“他知道自己犯錯了嗎？首先要對他進行‘無罪推定’，假設他並不知道問題所在。”

Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to point out what's going on without blaming anyone in particular. "Describe the errors in terms of the department or the team, and ask whether there's anything you can do to help prevent any more mistakes," Mattson says. "Instead of accusing the boss, make it more about the effect on the whole group. Above all, express concern for his reputation, as the leader, if the errors continue, and offer to help develop

你的任務（如果你願意接受的話）是指出問題所在，但不要專門批評任何人。馬特森說：“從部門或團隊的角度來描述這些錯誤，同時詢問自己能做些什麼來幫助避免出現更多錯誤。不要指責上司，而是要多討論一下它對於整個團隊的影響。當然，要表達一下對上司信譽的擔憂，作爲領導者，如果持續犯錯誤必將影響他的聲譽。同時主動提出幫助制定一些可行的解決方案。”

If this discussion leads nowhere, well, you did what you could. It's possible, though, that your boss knows things aren't going well and will react as if you had thrown him a much-needed life preserver -- which could be very nice for your own career, too. "If you really make it a priority to build a good rapport with this boss, and help him save face with higher-ups, who knows, you might even decide to stay beyond the next 18 months," Mattson says. It's worth a try.

就算討論沒有任何效果，至少你已經盡力了。但也有可能，你的老闆認識到問題所在，還把你當成了他潛在的“救命恩人”—— 這對你的職業發展非常有益。馬特森表示：“如果你真的把與老闆和諧相處作爲首要任務，同時幫他在高層面前保全了面子，在18個月後，你或許會選擇繼續留在這裏，誰知道呢？”這值得一試。